Sara Errani has been booted out of the Madrid Open at the third-round stage by Caroline Garcia, who secured a 6-2 4-6 6-3 victory in Spain.
Errani suffered an early wobble when Garcia grabbed a break at the first time of asking in the opening set, which put the Italian immediately on the back foot.
Garcia battled to hold her serve to take a 5-2 lead, but after returning to deuce three times, she was able to hold serve and then break to take the first set.
Errani fought her way back in the second by swinging the momentum in her favour by grabbing the first break of serve.
Garcia broke back, but Errani responded by moving on top and levelling the match on sets to force the contest into a deciding set.
Errani started strongly by breaking Garcia's serve at the first time of asking, but four break points were enough to put Garcia back on track to win the set and reach the quarter-finals.
Danielle Joynson
